VINNIE PAUL Says He Has No Reason To Speak With REX BROWN And PHILIP ANSELMO

Andre Mihsin of ChartAttack.com recently conducted an interview with drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott (HELLYEAH, ex-PANTERA, DAMAGEPLAN). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

ChartAttack.com: Did you guys [HELLYEAH] make a conscious decision to make a more straight-up rock record as opposed to a heavy record like DAMAGEPLAN or PANTERA?

Vinnie: The two most important things to me for this record were I wanted everything to have a really kick-ass groove to it that you can tap your foot to or bang your head or mosh to or whatever and have really great songs — songs that people will remember.

ChartAttack.com: Why did you guys decide to join the Family Values tour?

Vinnie: They invited us to be a part of it. We wanted this band to play to as many people as possible. Going out doing a headliner as a brand new band is really tough, you only reach 500, 600, maybe 1,000 people a night, whereas being part of a big package tour like that there's an opportunity to play for anywhere between 10,000 to 20,000 people a night. We really felt like this music was made for the masses and that's what we want to do is bring it to as many people as possible.

ChartAttack.com: Will you get involved in any other musical projects when the other HELLYEAH guys go back to their bands?

Vinnie: The main thing is I'm really going to listen to a lot of demos this summer while I'm out because I really am interested in signing a band or two to my label that I really feel has something new and different to offer and putting them out. When those guys get done touring for the MUDVAYNE and NOTHINGFACE records, we'll get back together and do HELLYEAH II as soon as we can because everybody is really fired up about it, and they all come from great bands so we'll see where it goes from there.

ChartAttack.com: You mentioned your label, Big Vin Records. Do you have any upcoming releases?

Vinnie: The only thing that's really in the works is "Dimevision II". We're looking for a fourth-quarter release. I also got this comedian that I love called The Chinaman. I'm working on his DVD that we're going to get out pretty soon. That's where it kind of sits right now.

ChartAttack.com: Any unreleased DAMAGEPLAN, PANTERA or Dimebag material?

Vinnie: I've got all the demos that me and Dime were working on before everything had happened, and we felt like it was some of the best music we'd ever written and we were really excited about it. We felt like it was going to get us back to a place of recognition like we were with PANTERA. I would think people would definitely want to hear that music and we'll get it out, but right now I'm really focused on HELLYEAH and seeing where this goes. And once this runs its course for this particular record then I'll look at some of those demos.

ChartAttack.com: I don't want to talk too much about the past because what needed to be said has already been said. But what I haven't heard anything about is your relationship with former PANTERA bassist Rex Brown. Do you still have relationship with him?

Vinnie: Not really. The bridges and the family and everything were destroyed back in 2001. It's kind of hard to have any reason to want to speak to either one of those guys [Rex and former PANTERA vocalist Phil Anselmo]. I just leave it at that. I'm moving on with my life and I'm sure they're moving on with theirs and that's how that's going to be.

Read the entire interview at ChartAttack.com.